'My fiance said he didn't need an ambulance - minutes later he was dead'

'My fiance said he didn't need an ambulance - minutes later he was dead'

A dad-to-be collapsed and died after mistaking a heart attack for heartburn. Jason Horsfall told fiancee Caroline Ramsay "this heartburn is killing me" but insisted he did not need medical help.

Instead, after indigestion medication failed to help, he set off to buy aspirin from the nearby Morrisons garage. Tragically he never made it home after collapsing in the street on his way back.

Despite emergency services and passers-by performing CPR he died in the back of the ambulance. Now his grieving fiancee has told how he left her one last gift after she discovered just four days after his death that she was pregnant with his child.

The 40-year-old, from Retford, Nottinghamshire, said: "I felt absolutely numb but then it felt like a miracle. When I feel really down and I can’t stop crying, I just think that I’ve got a part of him growing inside of me.”

Caroline told how Jason , 41, began complaining of heartburn on the morning of October 10, just weeks before their planned wedding. He took Gaviscon and paracetamol but when the discomfort persisted Jason went for aspirin only to collapse as he headed home.

She said: "He woke up like any other morning, totally fine, but he said he had a bit of heartburn – he’s suffered with it before. He made himself some breakfast but the pain came back again and he said, ‘this heartburn is killing me’."

She said she suggested they call an ambulance but Jason declined, saying instead he would go to the Morrisons petrol station opposite their two-bedroom flat to buy some aspirin from the shop. On the way back home, Caroline said Jason “collapsed” in the road while having a heart attack – prompting a member of the public to start performing CPR.

Emergency services, including paramedics in solo response cars, two crewed ambulances and an air ambulance were dispatched to the scene, according to the East Midlands Ambulance Service. This alerted Caroline to the incident as she said her house is “literally a second away” from the petrol station.

Caroline said: “I had this gut-wrenching feeling, I ran outside and the first thing I saw was Jason’s trainers. I screamed at the top of my lungs, ran over to him and was trying to comfort him.

“There were quite a lot of public around, they were really helpful and doing CPR on Jason. The ambulance crew then took over and they put him in the back (of the ambulance) – they told me to wait in the house because I was distraught and my house is literally a second away.”

Caroline said paramedics were able to revive Jason twice but his heart continued to fail. She was then told the situation was not looking positive as Jason continued to be treated in the ambulance for about 48 minutes.

She said: “I went to the back of the ambulance and held his hand the whole way through while they put a scan on his heart to see if there was any activity. I asked if there was any way back from this but there was a very slim chance – I said if there was no way back, we need to turn the machines off and (the ambulance crew) agreed.

“They said that if we bring him back, his heart is going to keep failing.” Caroline told how she sat with Jason, “held his hand” and “kissed his forehead”. They took the machines off him and took the tube out his mouth … I was with him until he took his last breath,” she said.

Caroline said Jason was pronounced dead at 4.35pm and said they waited for a coroner to arrive to take his body to the Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham. “I’m reliving it every day,” she said. “I can’t go into our bedroom, I start to get panicky when I go near it – that’s the last place he was.”

Now seven weeks later, she says she is finding solace in the fact "part of him is growing inside of me". Caroline has since had to cancel their wedding, which was set for November 5 at a Registration Office in Nottingham.

She has also started an online fundraising page to help cover the costs of Jason’s funeral and the everyday expenses of raising their 20-month-old daughter, Paignton. She said: "I’m doing each day hour by hour, I feel like a zombie.

"But, in a way, I actually feel comforted and lucky that I’ve got a baby because it’s like a last gift from Jason. It’s nice to know I’ve got a part of him growing inside of me, it’s very comforting."

Caroline told how she met Jason in an Asda supermarket "of all places" back in 2018. She said: "Jason said he had seen me in the area months and months before.

"One day, I noticed him in Asda, sort of walking behind me, doing his shopping and we said hello." He then messaged me out of the blue on social media and it started from there – in Asda of all places."

They got engaged in December 2020 and were set to get married on November 5 at a registration office in Nottingham. "He was amazing, he couldn’t do enough for me," Caroline said.

Now she is facing her future with their daughter Paignton and their unborn baby after learning on October 14 that she was seven weeks pregnant with Jason's child. To help Paignton cope with her father's loss, Caroline has told her that Jason is now "a star in the sky". She said: “There’s loads of photos around the flat of all of us together and she’ll point going, ‘dada’.”

Caroline has also had to cancel the pair’s wedding plans as they were due to tie the knot on November 5. She has also set up an online fundraising page, which has raised more than £1,500, to help with the fees for Jason’s funeral and the everyday costs of looking after their daughter.

“I’m thankful and overwhelmed for people’s generosity and support,” she said. Jason sadly didn't realise he was suffering a heart attack and the NHS is urging people to be aware of the symptoms so they know when to act.

Symptoms of a heart attack

Symptoms of a heart attack can include:

• chest pain – a feeling of pressure, heaviness, tightness or squeezing across your chest
• pain in other parts of the body – it can feel as if the pain is spreading from your chest to your arms (usually the left arm, but it can affect both arms), jaw, neck, back and tummy
• feeling lightheaded or dizzy
• sweating
• shortness of breath
• feeling sick (nausea) or being sick (vomiting)
• an overwhelming feeling of anxiety (similar to a panic attack)
• coughing or wheezing

The chest pain is often severe, but some people may only experience minor pain, similar to indigestion. While the most common symptom is chest pain, symptoms can vary from person to person. Some people may have other symptoms such as shortness of breath, feeling or being sick and back or jaw pain without any chest pain.